How now, mad cow

The good news is the stability of the market is paramount. The bad news is that stability comes before consumers’ right to know.

That, at least, is the way the debate over mad cow test results shake out. As my colleague Purva Patel writes today, various government agencies that oversee the safety of the food supply don’t agree on how much information about mad cow testing should be made public, but they all agree that they don’t want to hurt the markets.

Generally, though, market volatility thrives on rumor and speculation. Transparency and openness would help calm the markets, not to mention ease consumer concerns about food safety.

There are, of course, concerns about the privacy of the ranchers involved and the impact to their livelihoods. But protecting rancher privacy doesn’t mean resorting to a bunker mentality.

After all, ranchers are hurt by market volatility, too. As Shane Sklar, director of the Independent Cattlemen’s Association of Texas says:

As a rancher, the only reason I would like to know is to put an end to the volatility in the marketplace, because it will either have a disruption and then we can go back to normal, or we don’t have anything at all. But speculation adds to volatility in the market. From that point, I would like to know, but for other reasons I’m not as anxious.

A little more openness would go a long way, in both the markets and consumers’ minds.

3 Responses

So you have mad cow in Texas now? Good. That means the hysterical kneejerk reaction of some American cattlemen has gone for nothing. Most of us here in Canada (remember us? we’re the country up north) have no sympathy for you at all, in light of your sanctimonious, self-serving protectionism, masked as “we’re just being cautious” for the camera. Meanwhile, a single case in a single cow keeps our beef out of the US for years.

By the way, our borders are closed, and will stay that way for years at least.

As director of the Independent Cattlemen’s Association of Texas, is Shane Sklar the most reliable resource on the safety of beef? Might Mr. Sklar claim to be more concerned about volatility in the marketplace than about food safety, just to allay the fears of consumers?

I think there is no question that we Americans fear of the health consequences of consuming mad cow meats or drinking its milks! It is known that eating red meat causes one to act more aggressively then non-red meat eaters. So there might be a psychological connection and in in-road for the disease that causes bovine madness! By the time they (FDA) get around to finally be able to say without massive legal repercussions that indeed it does too many of us will have been infected! I won’t take the chance that the disease may have a long dormancy in its host or the fact that a host might be resistant to its attack but still a carrier! I gave it up on an indefinitely extended lent until they can guarantee it won’t!